Start out your WebSearch University experience a day early. Join us for preconference workshops. We have four great half-day sessions for you to choose from that will serve as a baseline for the next 2-days at WebSearch University! Choose from these two exciting workshops in the morning: conference chair Marydee Ojala’s brings you “Unlocking the Deep Web of Business Information” or Greg Notess “The Secrets of Search: Basics and Beyond.”

Last week, nearly 300 people gathered in Alexandria, VA, for the 9th annual meeting of the National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program (NDIIP) and the National Digital Stewardship Alliance (NDSA). Organized by the Library of Congress (LC), #digpres2013 brought scores of archivists, librarians, and information specialists together to explore "solutions to the challenges of stewarding digital content over the long-term." The presentations represented an astounding array of ingenuity, displaying tools that were useful to all concerned with preserving the digital record, from high literature to news of the Kardashians.

Wolters Kluwer Health rolled out enhancements for OvidSP, its medical research platform. Healthcare professionals and researchers are now able to search with improved functionality and download and export videos, images, and full-text and bibliographic content.

Thomson Reuters CompuMark, a Thomson Reuters Intellectual Property & Science business that protects worldwide brands, released a white paper, "Best Practices for Brand Expansion in China: How to Navigate a Unique Intellectual Property Landscape," that discusses best practices for trademark protection in China and outlines strategies for brand protection.

Alexander Street Press signed an agreement with Scotland's University of Dundee to launch a patron-driven acquisition (PDA) program. Now the University of Dundee library has access to Alexander Street Press' academic videos for a period of 1 year. When the loan period ends, the university will use Alexander Street Press' metrics to decide which titles to keep in its permanent collection.

When it's time to trade office paperwork for some good reads on vacation, there is certainly an app for that. In fact, there are quite a few of them, and the apps listed here are all free, whether you opt to find a title to enjoy on your own or want to join a reading community to share your thoughts about your favorite best-seller with a virtual book club.

ITI Blogs

If you regularly read blogs, add these to your reader:

ITI Books Blog – booksblog.infotoday.com – news, observations, and commentary from the authors, editors, and publishers of Information Today, Inc.'s many book offerings.

Library Stuff –librarystuff.net – the library blog dedicated to resources for keeping current and professional development, written by Steven M. Cohen.

InfoToday Europe Blog – infotodayeurope.com – The latest news, analysis and opinion on the information industry in Europe and the UK.

Business of Video blog – blog.streamingmedia.com – Daily posts about the online video industry, business trends and analysis, market data, and research as well as the online video business models in the media and entertainment, broadcast, publishing, advertising and enterprise industries.

destinationCRM Blog – destinationcrmblog.com – a blog from the editors of CRM magazine, dedicated to providing Customer Relationship Management information in a timely manner to connect decision makers and providers.

SpeechTech Blog – speechtechblog.com – updates on speech technology and its applications in daily life. Covers everything from ASR to VUI, with lots of links, threads, and even a few pictures thrown in for good measure.